


Living A Lie

by afteriwake



Series: In So Few Words [13]
Category: Doctor Who, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence - The Reichenbach Fall, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Disguise, Gen, Lies, Metaphors, POV Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes & Eleventh Doctor Friendship, Sherlock Holmes Traveling The Stars, the doctor lies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-02
Updated: 2012-12-02
Packaged: 2017-11-20 03:28:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/580805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At least the Doctor also knew what it meant to have to wear a mask, to hide your true self lest it get you killed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Living A Lie

**Author's Note:**

> So since “Living In A City Of Death” became a WIP and it wasn’t finished in time for the deadline at **wholockians** , this is my final entry. It’s an answer to prompt 3 using the lyrics _But trying to be someone else was harder than it seemed_. I hope you all enjoy this.

Some things were ingrained in the very fiber of his being. Some things about Sherlock Holmes stayed, regardless of what the man himself wanted. When he had been living on his own, taking down the criminal network Moriarty had established, he had used many aliases, been many different people. But at the core he was always Sherlock Holmes. He wouldn’t murder anyone, only killing in self-defense. If there was a mystery to solve he was drawn to it like a magnet to a lodestone. There were certain principles in his being, some instilled by his parents, some by Mycroft and some by John, which he wouldn’t cross for any reason.

He had run across the Doctor a few times in those three years. He didn’t know exactly what this John Smith was all about, but he knew John Smith was not who the man really was. He knew it was a mask he wore, not unlike the vicar disguise he himself had worn for his first meeting with Irene Adler. And he saw this John Smith have the same problems that he did: sometimes the mask would slip and the truth would shine through. Irene’s words the first day they met rang through his head whenever he saw it happen to John Smith or whenever he felt it happen to himself. 

Finally the time for lies and fake personas was over, and the truths were revealed. He would never have believed that the man he knew as John Smith was a time travelling alien, but there it was, plain as day. And after things went horribly wrong with his reunion with John, and after he saw just how little the city of London needed a Sherlock Holmes, he left with the Doctor, off to travel the universe and beyond.

He might still answer to the name Sherlock Holmes, but this new man was a far cry from the one who had lived to solve cases. This new man was complicated and battle scarred, but at least he was around someone else who understood. Because if nothing else, the Doctor knew very well what it was like to live a lie, to be someone else for the safety of yourself and others, and Sherlock took comfort in that.


End file.
